Youth from Serbia and Croatia Pay Respects to Victims of War in Vukovar

5. 11. 2010. By symbolically casting flowers from the pedestrian bridge into the Vuka River in Vukovar, some forty youths from Serbia and Croatia yesterday paid their respects to all the victims of war in Vukovar. The meeting of youth from Belgrade, Zagreb and Vukovar was organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR).

“White flowers symbolize remembrance. Victims must not be forgotten. And our meeting is a symbol of the future of this town. There must not be any more denial, any more room to hide behind the crimes committed, we need to face up to what had happened and apologize for the crimes committed”, said Mario Mazic, Coordinator of YIHR Croatia.

With this meeting YIHR offices wished to welcome the policy of reconciliation and the move taken by the presidents of Croatia and Serbia, underscoring the significance of the meeting between Mr. Tadic and Mr. Josipovic in Vukovar for encouraging the process of dealing with the recent wartime past in the region.

The youths from Serbia and Croatia were joined at the bridge by Mirko Kovacic, who was a prisoner of war in the Stajicevo and Begejci prison camps, Radojka Mrkic, who still knows nothing about the fate of her husband who went missing prior to the war operations in Vukovar, as well as Deputy Mayor of Vukovar Danijela Stankovic and Member of the Croatian Parliament Vesna Pusic.
Young people then visited the Ovcara Memorial Centre and the Vukovar hospital.

“There has been enough of segregation in schools in Vukovar, we should be spending time together and finally moving towards a normal life”, said Maja Milanovic, a high school student from Vukovar, where Croatian and Serbian children are segregated even in kindergarten.

“Upon visiting Vukovar, I feel richer for a wide range of experiences. The impression of the developments underway in Vukovar in 1991. when hearing about it on TV cannot compare to when you actually visit that town which is several hours’ drive from Belgrade, when you meet with people who survived the destruction of Vukovar, visit the hospital where a ‘museum’ was set up, depicting what it was like there in 1991. After everything that had happened, coexistence should be resumed. I hope that the meeting between the presidents of Serbia and Croatia will have concrete effects. Such symbolic acts on part of politicians are highly significant”, said Aleksandra Popovic, a student from Belgrade.